Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Well, officially in the last 12 month period I think there's been 11-13 local artists release an actual vinyl LP !!! If this is the "comeback" of vinyl then I would say that a number of us here in Ottawa at least, have embraced the thought in some way. Garagahave been working there craft for well over a year or so now and it's nice that they have properly documented this existence with a record (in both senses of the word). Depending on your opinion of caliber, the pedigree involved here is most definitely a "dedicated rock 'n' roll soldiers" kinda thing. Neanderthal Sponge, Harshy, Werbo, Stand GT, MS Gesus, Polaris and King Kung are a smattering of the members various tours of duty. Whether you know any of the groups previous efforts is of little consequence as the group stand well enough on their own merits. Having said that, Garaga to my ears, play a blend of infectious twin guitar rock that fills both the need to hear a hard edged mid-tempo chug with a keen sense of melody and pop. I do hear ghosts of past projects. There's an anthemic quality to many of the 10 tracks on this effort and a solid lyrical sense of humour. Ya'll remember fun...? This Garaga album has it! The record itself is a pretty shade of bloodish red and is 180 Gram and a cd included. The black embossed sleeve is stark but striking with it's red lettering. Key cuts are "Rock Hamster", "Death From Holidays", "Flirty Gurdy" and "Brain Buster". Great recording job as usual by Yogi and this album will make a good addition to any rockers collection.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

What a sleepy Thursday! Got some pretty swell stuff in today. Two exceptional new lps restocked and both are destined to be OOP soon I figure. The Helena Espvall / MasakiBatoh album and the new Josephine Foster vinyl released in the UK on Bo'Weavil...very ltd. Also in are reissues of 2 really great '68 and '70 psych lps on the Mainstream label by December's Children(finally!!) and Lacewing(nice west coast edge). Also very fresh, are new albums from Jolie Holland, Holly Golightly, Plastic Crimewave Sound(re-stock), Lili Z (Volt/No Talents chanteuse), Vivian Girls, Blackout Time, Lucinda Williams and Starlite Desperation.

New stuff on the horizon...Windy and Carl, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Brant Bjork & The Operators(1st time ever on wax !!), Graham Day & The Gaolers, Ludella Black(Headcoatee),Earth(finally wax on "Bees..."), Sunn O))) and a ton more......remember new stuff every week!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

on the table today...Magnificent Brotherhood...a Berlin based beat/garage band who debut on World In Sound with a smokin' organ driven sound that recalls a psych-soulful 60's influence....I think some of these guys were in Liquid Visions....excellent...kinda even Doorsy in spots. I got an email a couple of weeks ago from a dude in Finland whose name is Jaire. He thanked me for spinnin' his stuff on the show! His recording moniker is Octopus Syng and he has several excellent albums out on the Nasoni label and I really dig his devout take on psychedelia. Combining an eastern edge that meets Syd-era Floyd, he indeed at times, makes me think it is from the period, very cool and honest stuff. I will review the newest Octopus Syng "Birds Of Morning Are Never Late" in detail shortly. Another album I actually played twice today spurred on by another recent email from a band abroad was by an English group known as Earthling Society. Their latest and 4th full length is called "Beauty & The Beast" and thus far is a cd only release I believe to be on their own "Four-Zero" record label. This Lancashire based group are psych fans who have delved into many of it's styles in the past and although I have tended to lean towards the heavier, space rock side of some earlier recordings I must say that their newer direction...more organic perhaps?, is easily like able and maybe even more varied as a whole album goes. "Syd" comes to mind a bit here as well and there is a bit of a pop side showing that may have been hinted at on the "Albion" album(the first). Lots of twelve string and mellotron making this effort quite different than say their last! I also revisited with a couple of old friends in the form of King Khan and BBQ and the original release they did for the Goner label awhile back. Someone actually asked me to play it, lost interest by the second cut and then focused on what Sonics album to purchase! As the "dynamic duo" were being ignored and the umpteenth "Here Ain't The Sonics" vinyl quickly left the house I found myself tappin in rhythm to the raw assed r&b grunt that Mark and Khan seem to do so well. I had forgotten how infectious this album is, of course now repacked with extra trax as a double wax set from In The Red Records.

..."the band whose name is a symbol" make their second appearance in support of monster psych rock greats Plastic Crimewave Sound at the Dominion Tavern on Thursday Nov. 13th at The Dominion Tavern. America's Mondo Drag will also be on the bill and it'll cost ya $ 10.00This is a Birdman/CKCU co-presentation.

"the band whose name is a symbol" have pretty much sold out of their debut ltd. lathe cut lp. 2 or 3 copies will be available at the show on the 13th. A new album will be recorded this Sunday the 26th of Oct. and will be released as a ltd vinyl album of 100 copies. Tentatively called "Superficial Marks" this record will be available exclusively at Birdman Sound and will be released on the 20th of December this year.

Is this important? Whenever this blog thing started, everyone said I needed one. Well here it goes, I'm starting. I'm gonna do this instead of the birdman website, http://www.birdmansound.com/ just cuz I'll be able to do it and Aardvark won't have to do his thing anymore as a charitable donation to Birdman Sound. Dave's a great guy who is now knee deep in community radio as a Program Director at CHUO-FM here in Ottawa. Tough job? Yep! I did it 20 years ago at CKCU-FM as many of you know. Lotsa fun and challenging but a lot of work!

In any event, I will attempt to keep this blog real and regular and it will be my way of getting my ya-ya's out further than I already do. I'm a junkie when it comes to music and have dedicated for better or for worse an entire lifetime to it so far and lord willin' I'll stop when I drop. This blog will serve those interested as another information source based on my personal views and takes on music and the business. As I like to say "a person's taste in music is their own business". This could be taken a few different ways pertaining to me but I'm sure ya'll will figure it out.

I will be posting my play lists from my radio show here which is called "Friday Morning Cartunes" and is heard weekly on the radio dial in Ottawa, Ontario at 93.1 FM and on the net at http://www.ckcufm.com/ . The show runs every Friday morning my time at 9:30 am and goes until 1:00 pm. Just in case you don't know, I have had this same time slot for 20 years now and have been at CKCU since '85. Prior to that I was at CHSR-FM in Fredericton, NB for 5 years. I also plan to entertain you with record reviews and only positive ones. I'll also try and keep ya informed as to upcoming releases that I think you should care about and to relay tidbits of music oriented thought and news if you will, just as a matter of fact kinda thing. Shows to see and places to go will also be bandied about....

I just got an advance copy from Lars Krogh at Bad Afro in Denmark, of the new Dragontears album called "Tambourine Freak Machine". Another mind blower spaced out psych rawk monster from the Danish theatre...Those Baby Woodrose, On Trial dudes know their shit! Wow!I'll let ya know when it's in house as the release date says Nov. 8/08....vinyl and cd. The first one is still floating around and if you don't have it....git it...wicked as well!

Other stuff that I like tons lately are new albums from Grails, El Hombre Misterioso(Peruvian stoner psych), Causi Sui, Pontiak - "Sun On Sun", Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh's new album, Josephine Foster, Plastic Crimewave Sound, Alexander Tucker's "Portal" on ATP and the Pack A.D.'s "Funeral Mix Tape" on Mint records. The recent Dungen 12" that's out as a ltd edition of 1000 is a killer and I'll review their new full length maybe by weeks end cuz I should have one tomorrow !

The Record Convention was a huge waste of time ! Poor turnout notwithstanding, a bunch of dealers did not appear either this time.....No surprise I guess as the organizers from Montreal do NO advertising whatsoever.....funny given all the hype about "the vinyl comeback" and yet here in Ottawa it would have looked like we existed in another dimension. Record shows are pretty painful here in any event as it's mostly a bunch of hapless gomers still looking for some shit by the Beatles or Dean Martin or whoever......in fact the majority of the "usual suspects" at the Ottawa shows bear more than a striking resemblance to the freaks in "Vinyl", that hilarious, pathetic and somewhat sick Canadian documentary on the wax obsessed! Oh well what can ya do?.....not go again...ever?